Aprilia Racing manager Albesiano assesses test progress

Marco Melandri and Alvaro Bautista are hard at work with both the previous version of the Aprilia prototype and the new RS-GP.

Romano Albesiano, Aprilia Racing Manager had this to say about the first two days of testing at Sepang: "The initial results of these tests are certainly positive. I won't dwell too much on the times because that's not our goal at the moment, but the sensations are encouraging. These two days are in line with a sporting season that we are taking on one year ahead of schedule and one that we are well aware will be focused on development and refinement of a competitive prototype."

"Considering the fact that the new RS-GP is taking its first steps, Alvaro's performance is definitely a positive sign. Even his comments on the feel of the ride are very encouraging as he did not indicate any real weakness in the project. So the new bike has plenty of room for optimisation and improvement. Alvaro is proving himself to be a fast rider and, just as we expected, he has a positive attitude that is conducive to the work we need to do in the garage. Marco is continuing his apprenticeship and objectively he is struggling a bit more than we expected. But we know Marco and his approach well, so we are doing everything we can to put him at ease in this new technical situation."